nullifier

In his eagerness to draw a connection between Jeffersonian states' righters, nullifiers, and secessionists, McDonald downplays the Jeffersonians' democratic commitments and casts southern secessionists as ‘libertarians.’

He suggests that it was this ‘singular history and political culture’ that produced the rabid fire-eater proslavery advocates and nullifiers 150 years later.

Disillusioned nullifiers began to envision an independent southern nation taking shape, united in the defense of slavery.